The H.A.R.D. Corps (a superpowered mercenary strike team) has discovered a mysterious heavily guarded shipment being sent by evil businessman Toyo Harada to Eastern Europe, and they fly over to take it down...
Just like the previous issue of HARD Corps, #4 is a done-in-one, successfully telling a complete story in just twenty pages. It's a well-written piece of action fun, and it's a blast to read, as always.
The majority of the HARD Corps team don't get any development this issue (aside from a bit at the end of the climax), but they're likeable, and badasses, so it's ok. As for Charlie 'Gunslinger' Palmer, he does, and it's well-written.
The only problem I have with this issue is that after the end, the damage done by the Corps represents a multi-billion dollar loss for Toyo Harada, so logically the events in this issue alone should be enough to completely sink his Foundation! But no, thanks to the insanely spoileriffic series bible Rai #0, Valiant Comics' continuity was locked into a certain direction with Harada, and had no freedom to change things up, or do anything different.
Another aspect that could be seen as a problem is the stupidity of Gunslinger's father. Charlie's family is one that's been in the military for generations, and his father is upset that he quit, even though Charlie was in a prison camp for twenty years! Jeez, asshole, cut your son a bit of fucking slack! The logic he uses is really dumb, as he claims that for all those years, he never gave up hope that his son was alive, but Charlie did give up by quitting the military! This could be seen as stupid writing, or a stupid character, so I guess it's up to the reader to decide which one they see it as.
There is one spot where I thought there was an extreme misuse of the word 'casualty', but apparently the word can also refer to injured people, not just dead ones.
The artwork is mostly good. Gunslingers face looks a bit weird in one early panel, but aside from that, everything's good. And the cover is pretty awesome!
To finish, The H.A.R.D. Corps continues to be an exemplary series with this issue!...
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